Rethinking Nike
Former soccer coach takes on apparel giant
Audience members at Jim Keady’s “Behind the Swoosh” presentation had to get comfortable with each other fairly quickly. Attendees were instructed to look at labels on their neighbors’ apparel and announce where their clothes were made.
What ensued was a list of developing countries akin to the United Nations top priority list, with one lone T-shirt boasting its origin in Burlington. This was the setting for Keady’s insightful and sometimes uncomfortable presentation on sweat-shops and social justice.
Jim Keady is a former professional soccer player for the New Jersey Imperials and former coach of the St. John’s Men’s Soccer team. Keady lost his job but gained a great deal of perspective after Nike athletic wear struck a $3.5 million endorsement deal with St. John’s.
Keady, who is from a Catholic background, says he felt that the relationship between Nike and St. John's University was counterintuitive because Nike is an abundantly abusive corporation and the Catholic church is a religious institution meant to promote peace and justice.
He declined to wear the Nike sportswear that was required of him and was presented with an ultimatum: wear the swoosh or get the boot. Keady chose the latter, and in June of 1998 he resigned from St. John’s University.
Not long after this, Keady and a colleague embarked on a month-long trip to the Jakarta suburb of Tangerang, Indonesia, in order to “hold truth in their hands.”
During this time they subsisted on the standard wages for Indonesian factory workers, about $1.25 a day. The two stayed in a workers slum, living in a small concrete room bereft of any furniture or air conditioning, but home to a fair amount of rats and cockroaches.
Indonesians living in these villages, which are densely populated but have sparse infrastructure, share a bathroom with five to 10 people. Factory families are forced to trade food for other basic commodities and often must work incredible amounts of overtime to assure a second daily meal.
What Keady found with unequivocal assurance was that “there is no way to live on $1.25 and retain human dignity.”
To put this number into perspective, Keady said that golfer Tiger Woods, who currently boasts a $100 million contract with Nike, makes as much in three minutes as an Indonesian factory worker may make in a month.
Furthermore, the amount that Woods makes in one round of golf would take a factory worker nine and a half years to earn.
Freshman Julie Schnabel was struck by Keady’s presentation, particularly his intense commitment to the cause.
“I had read about conditions in sweatshops before but I had never seen the actual living conditions of the workers,” Schnabel said. “The open sewers, tiny, unsanitary living conditions and the nearly skeletal bodies of Jim and his friend after going a month without any real, substantial nourishment were shocking.”
During their visit to Indonesia, managers of Nike’s factories posted signs for workers, instructing them not to speak to Keady or Kretzu, as doing so would yield serious consequences.
This sort of intimidation is also what hamstrings the formation of successful labor unions in Indonesia and other Asian countries, as the opportunity costs for speaking up are far too high.
“Workers that were parents said to me, ‘We can’t stand up and fight back. We can’t leave our children without a mother and father. If something happened to us, what would they do?’” Keady said.
Keady, along with the non-profit organization Educating for Justice, aims to reveal the human rights abuses and injustices inflicted upon foreign labor in part by Nike, partly by the capitalist market system, and largely by the increasing trend of globalization in the corporate sphere.
He said apart from buying Nike products, consumers are buying into Nike’s claims of commitment to improvement. While the athletic wear corporation is required to submit a Corporate Responsibility Report, Keady said bluntly that “Nike Lies.”
The company feigns improvement and progress in the area of just labor practices on their website and through well-crafted public relations statements, he said.
Nike is typically informed of an upcoming audit, for which they have plenty of time to prepare and utilize “hired muscle” to ensure employees will not disclose unfair and illegal practices.
In reality, upwards of 50 percent of workers report some sort of physical, psychological or sexual abuse in the workplace, Keady said. Upon learning of the measures of Keady and other fair labor activists exposing their practices, Nike responded with “Right cause…wrong company.”
With his opener showing that foreign labor is hardly localized to Indonesia or a single apparel company, many students wondered, why Nike? Why focus on Indonesia?
Because, he said, Nike controls around 45 percent of the athletic footwear market. They have about 800,000 employees working in 700 factors in 52 countries worldwide.
Nike has contracts with hundreds of universities nationwide, Elon being one of them.
With such far reach, the company should set the rules of engagement for labor practices and wield their enormous influence towards improving working conditions on an even larger scale, he said.
Keady, along with Educating for Justice, hopes to use Indonesia as a springboard for a global labor movement.
He emphasized the consumer power of young people, which is about $247 billion for teens and college students. He encouraged students and faculty to get involved with the growing sweat-free movement, which he believes will mirror the huge success of the green-movement, which has proved to be financially successful.
“In a situation injustice, you can’t be neutral,” he said. “If you’re not involved, you’re involved. Apathy maintains the status quo.”
What ensued was a list of developing countries akin to the United Nations top priority list, with one lone T-shirt boasting its origin in Burlington. This was the setting for Keady’s insightful and sometimes uncomfortable presentation on sweat-shops and social justice.
Jim Keady is a former professional soccer player for the New Jersey Imperials and former coach of the St. John’s Men’s Soccer team. Keady lost his job but gained a great deal of perspective after Nike athletic wear struck a $3.5 million endorsement deal with St. John’s.
Keady, who is from a Catholic background, says he felt that the relationship between Nike and St. John's University was counterintuitive because Nike is an abundantly abusive corporation and the Catholic church is a religious institution meant to promote peace and justice.
He declined to wear the Nike sportswear that was required of him and was presented with an ultimatum: wear the swoosh or get the boot. Keady chose the latter, and in June of 1998 he resigned from St. John’s University.
Not long after this, Keady and a colleague embarked on a month-long trip to the Jakarta suburb of Tangerang, Indonesia, in order to “hold truth in their hands.”
During this time they subsisted on the standard wages for Indonesian factory workers, about $1.25 a day. The two stayed in a workers slum, living in a small concrete room bereft of any furniture or air conditioning, but home to a fair amount of rats and cockroaches.
Indonesians living in these villages, which are densely populated but have sparse infrastructure, share a bathroom with five to 10 people. Factory families are forced to trade food for other basic commodities and often must work incredible amounts of overtime to assure a second daily meal.
What Keady found with unequivocal assurance was that “there is no way to live on $1.25 and retain human dignity.”
To put this number into perspective, Keady said that golfer Tiger Woods, who currently boasts a $100 million contract with Nike, makes as much in three minutes as an Indonesian factory worker may make in a month.
Furthermore, the amount that Woods makes in one round of golf would take a factory worker nine and a half years to earn.
Freshman Julie Schnabel was struck by Keady’s presentation, particularly his intense commitment to the cause.
“I had read about conditions in sweatshops before but I had never seen the actual living conditions of the workers,” Schnabel said. “The open sewers, tiny, unsanitary living conditions and the nearly skeletal bodies of Jim and his friend after going a month without any real, substantial nourishment were shocking.”
During their visit to Indonesia, managers of Nike’s factories posted signs for workers, instructing them not to speak to Keady or Kretzu, as doing so would yield serious consequences.
This sort of intimidation is also what hamstrings the formation of successful labor unions in Indonesia and other Asian countries, as the opportunity costs for speaking up are far too high.
“Workers that were parents said to me, ‘We can’t stand up and fight back. We can’t leave our children without a mother and father. If something happened to us, what would they do?’” Keady said.
Keady, along with the non-profit organization Educating for Justice, aims to reveal the human rights abuses and injustices inflicted upon foreign labor in part by Nike, partly by the capitalist market system, and largely by the increasing trend of globalization in the corporate sphere.
He said apart from buying Nike products, consumers are buying into Nike’s claims of commitment to improvement. While the athletic wear corporation is required to submit a Corporate Responsibility Report, Keady said bluntly that “Nike Lies.”
The company feigns improvement and progress in the area of just labor practices on their website and through well-crafted public relations statements, he said.
Nike is typically informed of an upcoming audit, for which they have plenty of time to prepare and utilize “hired muscle” to ensure employees will not disclose unfair and illegal practices.
In reality, upwards of 50 percent of workers report some sort of physical, psychological or sexual abuse in the workplace, Keady said. Upon learning of the measures of Keady and other fair labor activists exposing their practices, Nike responded with “Right cause…wrong company.”
With his opener showing that foreign labor is hardly localized to Indonesia or a single apparel company, many students wondered, why Nike? Why focus on Indonesia?
Because, he said, Nike controls around 45 percent of the athletic footwear market. They have about 800,000 employees working in 700 factors in 52 countries worldwide.
Nike has contracts with hundreds of universities nationwide, Elon being one of them.
With such far reach, the company should set the rules of engagement for labor practices and wield their enormous influence towards improving working conditions on an even larger scale, he said.
Keady, along with Educating for Justice, hopes to use Indonesia as a springboard for a global labor movement.
He emphasized the consumer power of young people, which is about $247 billion for teens and college students. He encouraged students and faculty to get involved with the growing sweat-free movement, which he believes will mirror the huge success of the green-movement, which has proved to be financially successful.
“In a situation injustice, you can’t be neutral,” he said. “If you’re not involved, you’re involved. Apathy maintains the status quo.”
Updated February 27, 2008
